France on Trial

Book cover of France on Trial: The Case of Marshal Petain

Book description

For three weeks in July 1945 all eyes were fixed on a humid Paris, where France's disgraced former head of state was on trial, accused of masterminding a plot to overthrow democracy. Would Philippe Petain, hero of Verdun, be condemned as the traitor of Vichy?

In the terrible month of…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked France on Trial as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Austin Denis Johnston

Author

A "blend of courtroom drama, political intrigue and brilliant narrative history" that examines the life and after-life of a trial that shaped modern France: the 1945 prosecution of Philippe Pétain, Vichy France's head of state.

From Austin's 3 favorite reads in 2024.

Steve Dunn

Author

A detailed and well-written narrative of France’s attempts to purge herself of Vichy guilt at the end of the Second World War and the trial of Marshal Petain, who went from venerated hero to public enemy number one.

How France came to fall in 1940 has always interested me, as has the fact that the nation accepted the Vichy regime. I found the tortured legal process through which the French prosecuted those they judged guilty of collaboration most interesting, especially when related to the ‘cancel’ movements of today.

From Steve's 3 favorite reads in 2023.